Once the lonely, unattractive kin of sexier, more popular produce, root vegetables (along with tubers and rhizomes) finally get the love and attention they deserve in this inventive and far-reaching vegan cookbook. Instead of heavy stews and soups—the most common uses for root vegetables, in which they play mild-mannered backup to meat-centric ingredients—author Carla Kelly lets roots, tubers, and rhizomes shine on their own in recipes that include lighter versions of those traditional stews and soups as well as juices, salads, desserts, and ethnically inspired entrees such as potato, sauerkraut, and dill pierogies and sweet potato and pinto bean enchiladas.

The book includes a great collection of raw bites and sides, as well as information on the wide variety of root vegetables available, including what to do with those mysterious specimens in the market such as kohlrabi, cassava, celeriac, and Jerusalem artichokes. There's also imaginative recipes that find new ways to use the more familiar parsnips, turnips, beets, and potatoes.

Be the cool cook on the block and jump on the root vegetable bandwagon before the rest of the neighborhood does with help from Carla's amazing cookbook. Full-color throughout.

Carla Kelly is a vegan blogger (Year of the Vegan) and home cook. She is the author of three previous books, the most recent of which was Vegan al Fresco.